I am a small time activist in Oklahoma, and I frequently find myself in situations where it would be very helpful to send scary lawyer legalese letters.
I was listening to the podcast “Weird Little Guys” and one of the losers discussed on the show managed to get certified to practice law by attending YMCA night school so that he could fight school integration.
How could I pull off something similar? Not looking to really take clients/make money, but it would be really helpful with things like my states non-enforcement of its open records act.
I know this wouldn’t be a short term project, but what would be the easiest/cheapest routes?
Become an LLC.
LLC’s have more rights than citizens.
You start an LLC, name it something lawyer sounding like the last names of your friends but never call it a law firm. Call it civil representation.
Then when you get a customer not a client you can send letters on their behalf.
Most people freak out when they get an official looking letter with a “law name” on it. I’m not talking about the minority of people on here, but the majority of the population.
As long as you disclose your LLC does not practice law and you are simply “representing them” in a very general and broad sense you will be good.
What rights do LLCs have that citizens don’t? This sounds like a fun idea and I hope OP does it, but registering a DBA is a bit easier and accomplishes the same thing. Liability protection would be a good idea if actually taking on customers, but just using the business name for personal stuff seems pretty low risk
If your goal is not to be a lawyer, I would try connecting with non-profits in your area/state and asking if they know anyone who is seeking volunteers. Otherwise you have to go to law school, spend years studying, pay money.
I would have thought you can just take the bar exam, but uh… Apparently, at least in California, you do need at least 4 years of education in law provided by an accredited school or with a judge.
Well shit. Those movies about random dudes just taking the bar out of nowhere and becoming lawyers are bullshit.
What a lot of those movies leave out is that they are attending an accredited law program to get their J.D. degree. It doesn’t have to be a good law school, just one that meets the education requirements.
Even the ones where it’s a dude in prison just reading books from the prison library?
Yeah. A lot of state universities have programs where inmates can get degrees from behind bars. If you’re there long enough, you can probably get a law degree starting from an associates degree.
Go to law school, get a degree, pass the bar exam.
Law school is going to be a lot faster than reading law.
Donate $100Mil to the right person
The easist/cheapest/safest thing to do would be to retain a lawyer to write those scary legalese letters FOR YOU. They’d be from a law firm, the cost per hour to send a letter actually isn’t as bad as you think, and retaining a lawyer is a nice thing to have as an activist in case something happens. A lot of lawyers don’t even charge for the initial consultation and you can call your state’s bar to get referrals if you aren’t sure what kind of lawyer you need.
Obviously the right answer is, “probably don’t do this,” but in the spirit of actually engaging with it, I think you’d want a diploma mill that gives out law degrees with some sort of track record of being accepted, which will probably come down to the accrediting bodies the “schools” fall under.
I think you’d want a diploma mill that gives out law
The diploma mill option does sound promising. I really just want to be able to send letters that won’t get tossed.
I used to work in politics and knew of a guy who almost certainly did this. I believe his school was in the Virgin Islands, but could be mistaken.
Unfortunately, the vast majority of states require someone to go to law school (and pass the bar exam) before they can practice. So that is three years of graduate school after your 4-year undergraduate degree.
Some states might still let you take the bar exam without actually going to law school, but they will require proof of some amount of work (years) assisting in a legal capacity. You won’t be able to just sign up for the bar exam just because you want to take it.
The cheapest option is to live in a state with a good public University system, be smart enough to get in, and hope their law school tuition doesn’t break the bank.
However, sending legal-sounding letters doesn’t require a law degree at all. You only need that when you go to court. However, if you have been vibing your way through threatening legal sounding shit, and it does go to court, you may be in a world of hurt when no actual smarty-pants lawyer takes your case.
However, sending legal-sounding letters doesn’t require a law degree at all.
Are there any online courses or textbooks that would give a good intro to doing this?
I’ve found that any time I’ve interacted with the legal system, everything has been stupid and bad and made no sense. Pretty much every state agency in Oklahoma is routinely flouting law and ignoring things like public records requests, and the Attorney General has zero desire to do things like prosecute cops for killing elderly Asian men or teachers who molest kids…
Seems like you need to find some good non-profits in your area and donate some time to them. They might have lawyers on staff who can advise on how to do what you want to do productively
You can start with some Google searches about open records law in your state. Some lawfirms put out updates about the status of a legal issue - maybe as a way of attracting clients. Read the actual statutes cited in those articles. Then find a way to get the actual judgments about cases. Read them, along with the claim and defense from each side.
Look into paralegal training. You wouldn’t be able to represent anyone in court, but they do learn the basics of legal paperwork.
So, there’s nothing preventing you from making legal claims. As long as you’re not saying/implying that you’re an attorney, or accepting money for legal advice, I don’t think youre breaking the law or being unethical.
There is some additional weight from writing a letter form a legal office. But a well written letter citing statutes and threatening penalties and lawsuits could be as threatening.
Open records law should be pretty clear - so you should be able to be pretty clear about what the agency’s requirements and penalties are - even without a legal degree. Also, don’t underestimate the power of showing up at a board meeting and being a pest by saying the agency is breaking the law.
